Tom Mitchell to fly the coop, wants to be a Hawk

Tom Mitchell has finally requested a trade to Hawthorn, putting an end to the near season-long soap, that rivalled the likes of Days of our Lives. Mitchell was strongly linked with Carlton before his previous 1 year extension was signed in 2015, and was again strongly linked with Carlton earlier this season.

However, in a completely unsurprising turn of events, Hawthorn popped up as the likeliest destination, with their rich history, sporting success and enough cap space to offer just a tiny bit more than the Swans.

Last week, Phil Mullen, Mitchell’s manager, denied that a deal had been struck between Mitchell and the Hawks.

“People know more than we do,” Mullen said.

“We’re still in negotiations, we’re meeting with Sydney (Monday).

“We made an agreement that we would talk to Sydney at the end of the season, and we will do that.”

When quizzed about a potential Mitchell trade earlier today, Sydney’s football manager, Tom Harley provided an update to the Sydney Swans site.

“We spoke late last week and are expecting to hear from his manager Phil Mullen later on today so until we have that conversation there is nothing further to progress. I expect there will be further news later on. There is a bit of water to go under the bridge at this point so we will know a bit more later on.”

Later in the afternoon, once Mitchell had announced his desire to be traded to Hawthorn, Harley spoke with Triple M.

“We learnt of Tom’s preference today, so now we will discuss as a list management team what the next steps look like.”

Mitchell, a father-son selection, has played 65 games and kicked 38 goals since debuting for Sydney in 2013. He finished 8th in the best and fairest, his highest ever result.

Good luck Tom, you’ve been a good and important player for us and I hope that you do well, except against the Swans. A nice turn of events would land you at Carlton, not Hawthorn.